Disney World/Universal Orlando Vacation?

[Larry]

Book Crystal Palace today.

Probably too late. (I've been checking availability for Mom and I for weeks, and they're booked solid.)

BUT, things have changed at Disney, last few months.

Last summer, it was often irritating. We'd make reservations, and even with reservations, we'd show up 10 minutes early, they'd hand us a pager, and then we'd wait 45 minutes. (Which can be really frustrating, especially at Crystal Palace, because you can look through the windows and see that half the tables in the place are empty.)

But last few months, things have been different. It's actually harder to make reservations. But we show up, even without reservations, and we wait like five minutes, and then we go in.

I assume that what they're doing is, they aren't making as many reservations as they used to. It's harder to make reservations, but the service is a lot better, even if you don't have reservations.

Although it's possible that being able to get in, without reservations, is because we're in the off season, now. (That just doesn't explain why you can't make reservations.)

I'd say that, even if you can't make reservations for Crystal Palace, try going by there, anyway. I suspect that the odds are, the Monday after Thanksgiving, that you won't have to wait too long, even without reservations.

(I'd even recommend trying Chef Mickey's, but it's location, at Contemporary, makes things a bit more difficult to just gamble. You can't phone them, so you'd have to get everybody together and go to the hotel, just to find out whether you can get in or not. If they tell you that the waiting line's an hour long, then you've invested a lot of time on a gamble. If you do decide to gamble, I'll mention that with a party of two, I've never had to wait if I've gone there, without a reservation, at 7:30AM.)

If you decide to just take a shot at Crystal Palace, then, well, if they say it's an hour's wait, then all you've invested is a few minutes of your time.

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About some of the rides:

Given the ages of your kids, it's entirely possible that some of them will want to ride rides, which other kids are too short or simply don't want to ride.

I understand (never done it) that Disney has a thing for groups where some of the group can't ride a ride.

Say you have a Daddy, Mommy, teenager, and baby, and you're at Space Mountain. What you supposedly can do is, have all four of you wait through the line. When you get to the front of the line, Dad can take Baby, while Mom and Teenager ride the ride. When the ride is over, Dad hands Baby to Mom, and then Dad can ride the ride, without waiting through the line, again. In effect, you ride the ride as though you're two groups, but you only wait through the line once.

(I've never done it, but it occurs to me that it's possible that maybe Teenager might get to ride twice, once with Dad, once with Mom. But I don't know.)

Now, it's possible that when you have the conflict of "one kid wants Ride X, but a different one is too short or doesn't want to", that you might well just decide to split your group. I just wanted you to be aware that you had the other option.

[Kilmer17]

One of the things I used to do all the time was book the final available time for breakfast at Chef Mickeys (1045 I think). We'd head to the park for rope drop, ride a few, then head to late breakfast/early lunch. Back in the park around 12 right when everyone else is trying to find something to eat. Plus breakfast is alot cheaper than lunch.

Then grab a late afternoon snack somewhere like Pecos Bill's.

[Larry]

One other note about breakfast times at the parks. (I think it would be a miracle if this info helps the folks who are going a month from now, though. But it could be useful for other people.)

Some of the character restaurants in the parks, notable Crystal Palace in MK, and Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, open before the park opens.

For example, Animal Kingdom may open at 9:00, but Tusker House will open at 8:00

If you have reservations, then when you arrive at the unopened park, there will be a cast member there with a list of all the reservations from 8 to 9. Tell them your name, and they'll let you into the park before it opens.

You can't DO anything in the park. (Everything's closed.) (Although, at Animal Kingdom, the little wildlife exhibits tha you walk past on the way in are, obviously, there.)

But you can get into the park, and be eating, before the park opens.

(But, only if you can make a reservation. And like I said, I think those places are all booked up for the holiday season.)

[rictus58]

Larry,

Availability of reservations really can ebb and flow depending on If disney is running their free dining plan promotion.

Have you tried to book through their website?

They have changed some things recently with regards to reservations. People were booking multiple reservations for the same time and date at different places then deciding THAT day where they were going to eat. So there were a lot of reservations people booked that went un-used. For a number of restaurants, disney now requires a C/C on file. If you don't show or cancel within 24 hours, they bill you $10. They do this in hopes that people make a reservation, and keep it.

[Larry]

Decided to post some pictures, to see if I could make some of these things more attractive to people.

Crystal Palace. (2005. Last time Mom and Dad went to Disney together.)

Chef Mickey's. Christmas 2010.

View from a "Savannah View deluxe room" at Animal Kingdom Lodge, 2005

View from a "Magic Kingdom view" room at Polynesian, 2005.

Taken just after dawn, while the everybody but me was asleep. (Yes, there's fog all over the lake. That's one of the things I was trying to capture.)

The spikes above the trees, about 20% from the left, are the castle. The spikes about 5% from the right are Space Mountain.

Looking more to the right. The Polynesian boat dock, and Contemporary. (The glass "house" atop Contemporary is the California Grill.)

Teacup ride.

Mickey Mouse ice cream bar.

[mcsluggo]

everybody.. thank yo ufor your help!!!!!!!

i just booked two nights at the polynesian (even though it meant that i had to eat the charge for the last night of my hotel in tampa) Sunday and Monday night, and we have passes for Monday.

room was $310/night for no special views (ouch) and passes were around $80 each

total cost for 1 day in magicland... about $1150.... (no food or tranasport yet)

i haven't told my kids yet... I actually think i am not going to tell them at all... we are just going to pull into fairyland sunday eve... and watch the eyes open wide and jaws drop

---------- Post added November-17th-2011 at 05:49 AM ----------

7TFUAq_VAQA

the only thing i am POSITIVE i want to see

[Larry]

total cost for 1 day in magicland... about $1150.... (no food or tranasport yet)

Pointing out that the reason it costs so much is because you're spending two nights in a hotel, but only 1 day in the park.

If you were to spend two days there, it would only add about $100 to the bill, for twice as much park.

the only thing i am POSITIVE i want to see

Silly Daddy. You think that you get a vote in what you see?

With four princesses?

[Larry]

OK, now we have some specific plans that we can make specific recommendations for.

My first piece of advice concerns before you even arrive at the hotel.

You'll arrive at Disney. Pass through a big marker that tells you that you're now on Disney property. (Once you do, you'll notice that things change, considerably. You'll still be driving down a road, but everything will become pretty and pleasant looking.)

I don't know which direction you'll be coming from, but follow the signs to head for the Magic Kingdom. (Polynesian is located just outside MK, so until you actually arrive in the neighborhood, you can follow the signs for Magic Kingdom, and they'll get you to the right neighborhood.)

Following the signs for MK, you'll wind up on what I think of as the "Disney Interstate". You'll be heading North, on a divided, limited access road. Depending on which direction you're coming from, you may drive past Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. Once you pass EPCOT, you'll be driving alongside the tracks of the EPCOT monorail, off to your right.

After paralleling the monorail tracks for a mile or so, you'll come to the entrance to the Magic Kingdom area. The first "welcome" you'll get to this area is what I think of as a toll booth. This is where Disney collects the $14 fee for parking a car at Magic Kingdom.

Now, since you're staying at Polynesian, you don't have to pay to park. But you have to go through the toll booth, to get to Polynesian. All you have to do is stop at the toll booth, tell the toll collector that you're checking into Polynesian, and he'll let you through for no charge. (He'll take your word for it, you don't need to show him any paperwork or anything.)

BUT, here's Larry's catch. Just past the 20 or so toll booths, the road, which is about 8 lanes wide, curves to the left, to head towards the Magic Kingdom parking lot. And you don't want to go that way. Instead, there's like an "exit ramp" on the right hand side, that goes to the hotels.

This "exit ramp" is like 75 yards past the toll booths. If you aren't in the toll booth on the right, then you can't cut across the people emerging from the other toll booths, to get to the exit ramp..

When you get to the toll booths, pick the furthest one to the right that's open. (Often, the booth on the very farthest right is reserved for Disney buses only. But get to the rightmost one that they'll let you get to.)

(There's one sign, as you approach the toll booths, that tells you this. But it's real easy to miss, especially since all the Disney buses are in the right lane (because they want to be on the right when they get to the toll booth), and therefore there's likely to be a bus on your right, blocking your view of the sign.)

Once you take the "exit ramp", you'll come to a traffic light. Left turn. You'll drive past the entrance to the Ticket and Transportation Center. (TTC).

The way the Magic Kingdom is paid out, people going to Magic Kingdom arrive at the Ticket and Transportation center. This is the parking lot for the Magic Kingdom, and there are other things there. This is where the windows are that

sell

tickets to Magic Kingdom. There's a Lost and Found, there. And the monorail that goes to EPCOT is there. But, mostly, it's the Magic Kingdom parking lot. People going to MK park there, and then they have a choice of taking a monorail or a ferry boat across the lake, to MK.

Mostly, I mention this because it's possible that you may find TTC convienient for your transportation.

You'll drive across a speed bump. Then you're at the entrance to the Polynesian hotel.

You'll have to stop, and show photo ID to the security guard. He'll verify that you are due to check in, today. And he'll give you a parking pass for the dashboard of your car. That pass says that you're staying at a Disney hotel, and therefore you don't have to pay to park. (If you should decide to drive your car to, say, Animal Kingdom, then that pass will mean that you don't have to pay to park at Animal Kingdom, either.)

You'll arrive at the entrance to the hotel, and there you'll have some choices.

You can have a valet park your car. (It's $12 a day). Or you can park it yourself. They have a good sized parking lot, so there ought to be lots of empty spaces.

And you can have Disney handle your luggage.

I suspect that you'll want to let Disney do the luggage. Polynesian isn't one hotel, it's a collection of over a dozen scattered buildings. Depending on which room you get, you may be 1/3 of a mile from your room.

And, I assume that, traveling with four princesses, your luggage will likely weigh about as much as your car.

Assuming you let Disney handle the luggage, they'll bring a cart to the car, load everything onto a cart, and give you a tag. You'll go into the lobby. (Look at the floor of the lobby, as you enter. Hidden Mickey.) The lobby is REALLY decorated. (There's a gift shop to the left, if people want to go shopping while you check in.)

The checkin desk will assign you a room, and hand you your room keys. If you bought a "room and tickets package", then these keys are also your park tickets. If you bought a dining plan, then these keys are also your meal tickets. They'll hand you a folder with maps and brocures and things, and show you how to get to your room.

If you let Disney have your luggage, then you go to your room, push the "bell services" button on the room phone, and tell them that you're ready for your luggage. (They don't have keys to your room, nor do they know which room is yours, until you call.) You'll have to read them the serial number from the tag they gave you, and they'll deliver the bags to your room a few minutes later.

There's no charge for handling the bags, but they will expect a tip.

You'll likely see the pool, on the way to the room. (Actually, I think there's three pools. The main, fancy, decorated, one, with a view of the castle. And at least one other, plain old swimming pool. I think that the main one is the only one with a lifeguard.)

There's ducks all over the place. The ducks are VERY used to getting fed. They'll eat out of your hand. There's a 1/3 chance that your room will be on the ground floor, so you might well be able to feed them from your porch.

When we were there, we bought Mickey Mouse pretzels from the gift shop. The ducks have trouble eating them (no teeth), so we'd crush the pretzels to make crumbs. They'll eat out of your hands. (I assume that they get fed a LOT.)

Keep your eyes open, when you're walking around the campus. There's bunny rabbits, there. They're shy, compared to the ducks. Far as I know, they don't want to get fed. But they're brave enough that they'll sit six feet away from the sidewalk, and eat grass. (I'd say that the odds of you seeing one, only being there for a day, are slim. But it might happen.)

[Kilmer17]

What time will you be getting in?

Staying at Poly, you will be close to Fort Wilderness, which has a great movie under the stars every night complete with bonfire, marshmallows etc.

You can get there by boat, but it's a bit convoluted. Best to ask front desk for explanation.

Or you can hop on monorail and go to Contemporary then Grand Floridian to see their Xmas decorations. The Ginger Bread house at GF is awesome.

Other free things to do, head over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and go to the back safari. They will have night vision goggles to see the animals. Plus a bonfire.

Plan Plan Plan!

[Larry]

Or, watch the fireworks over the castle from the beach at Poly.

Or, the restaurants at Poly are pretty good. (There's like 15 restaurants between the three monorail resorts.)

Swimming pool. (And, next to the pool, there's a Jacuzzi and a hot tub.)

Heck, assuming that reservations are all booked up, might be worth a shot to take the monorail over to Contemporary and see if Chef Mickey's has much of a waiting line. Nice buffet, with Mickey. Monorail going by overhead.

What Kilmer's talking about, at the campground? In the middle of their RV campground, Fort Wilderness, on at least some evenings (I don't know if it's every night), they have an outdoor theater. They'll have live stage performers leading a sing along, things like that. Then you can cook s'mores over a bonfire. (They sell the ingredients.) Then they'll show Disney cartoons outdoors under the stars. IMO, it's really part of the whole "camping out in the wilderness" aspect of the campground.

In short, there's LOTS of things you can do, that don't involve spending $100 a person just so you can get into the park for an hour or two.

All depends on what time you arrive.

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Checking the schedule, here.

(Lots of info at that link, for you to study.)

Looks like on the night of Sunday, the 27th, the park closes at 7, so they can have their Very Merry Christmas Party. If you chose to go there, then you'll need a special ticket (not the usual daily Disney ticket, but a special ticket for just that event.) They'll have a special, Christmas-only parade, Christmas-only fireworks, and some other things. Looks like tickets are like $60 a person. (A bit more for adults, slightly less for children.)

Now, you don't have to pay to go to the park, you can watch the fireworks from the beach at Poly. Either way, if you pay to go to the park, or watch from the hotel, the fireworks are at 9:30.

BTW, here's the link to the web page for the hotel. It will have links to each of the hotel's restaurants, the pool, and to the activities that are available at the hotel.

[rictus58]

A benefit to watching the fireworks at poly (aside from lack of crowds) is they do pump in the music from the show at the magic kingdom.

[Larry]

And it can make a nice way of putting a period at the end of the day.

Watch fireworks.

Go to bed.

[rictus58]

On my next trip, I'm going to do what I can to use my DVC points to stay at the Wilderness Lodge villas.

I'm going to really aim for Bay Lake towers...but that's most likely not going to happen.

[Larry]

FWIW, hopefully Mom and I will be at that christmas party, Sunday night. We're scheduled to be there, then. And I've extended our stay by a day, because Mom really likes watching the Toy Soldiers on parade, and as near as I can tell, they're only doing that during their special nights, and Sunday night is the oly time they're doing it, that weekend.

I say hopefully, because with Mom, things are always subject to change. Way she's been lately, I'd say the odds are probably 3/4 that she'll refuse to go.

[Stew]

Im in the process of trading a week at my family's house in St. Lucia for nine days in someones timeshare right at/near Universal Studio's Orlando.

Ive always wanted to experience Disney as an adult. I went when I was real young, and always wanted to return as an adult with more money and more time.

[Larry]

It can be a really great place.

Some people don't like it.

But then, they're grumps. .

There's lots of things to do, for people with different interests. If you want castles and Mickey and things, they've got that. But if you want really adult, fancy restaurants, for example, they've got lots of them, too.

[Bonez3]

Funny this thread popped up, just returned from Disney ast night.

2 adults, 1 under 9 Y/O, and 2 under 3 Y/O @ Animal Kingdom with dining meal option for 6 days/5 nights- packaged for around $4,200, inc airfare from Philly.

Came outta pocket less than $1,000 on other costs including everything (souveneirs, park trinkets, alcohol, ect)

I don't know or care if this was a 'good deal', but we loved it and Disney gets A+ for hospitality. Picked up at airport, bags delivered to room, seamless management with 3 kids. We had a great time and reccomend WDW to anyone. Can't wait to go back!

[Larry]

Useless without pics.

[Bonez3]

I'm a little sketchy about posting pics of the family on websites...Just me. Needless to say, we have some real keepers. Purchased the disc option to customize the photoshoot pics that Disney takes, having fun today!

[Stew]

I like the pagentry that the staff goes through to give you the "Disney" experience. I like that they never break character, from a stall vendor to the cleaning staff, the staff are more actors then "workers", it seems. I like being surrounded by beautifully manicured landscapes, and the "aura" of fun around every corner. Im a sucker for good customer service, and its something Disney strives for. Man, I cant wait to go soon, and then I cant wait until my child is old enough to enjoy it so we can go again!

[mcsluggo]

wow!! thanks for the help hitting the ground running!!!

the plan plan plan thing goes agains my core being... but may very well be absolutely needed in this instance...

(when my wife and I went to europe for 5 weeks a few years back, my planning involved a flight to Helsinki (for a wedding) a flight to copenhagen one week later, a car rental and a flight out of amsterdam 4 weeks after that... and i brought a guide book and an address book with me (us).

it worked

but.. having 5 weeks to explore is very different than 1 day... thank you all for giving good ideas of what we MUST see in our short time there !

[hockeysc23]

Planning is key but also sit back and enjoy it. I think the magic from disney comes in the smallest of details they have taken care of. I usually plan out the 2-4 main rides that are musts then go around the park and just enjoy and hope in a line or get a fast pass if it appeals to you. The ones i see running from ride to ride to get a fast pass like they are on some clock don't seem to be having that much fun.

Also, don't worry about shopping in every shop. Larry can probably correct, but they all seem to be almost the same with the exception of a few. If you see it in one store you will see it another and can pick it up at the end of the day or downtown disney.

[rictus58]

Also, don't worry about shopping in every shop. Larry can probably correct, but they all seem to be almost the same with the exception of a few. If you see it in one store you will see it another and can pick it up at the end of the day or downtown disney.

This is pretty much true. You can even buy 99.9% of the stuff at home.

Here are some pictures from my most recent trip

Me scaring the crap out of my daughter.

Picture of the new Fantasy land construction. Sorry you can't see much. I lifted my arm and camera over the wall they have to shield you from it.

jasmine and aladin

My girls with stitch

[hockeysc23]

We ate lunch above Pinocchio's restaurant ... sorry the name escapes me but we got a very clear view of the new fantasyland going in. I'll see if I can post them when I get home. We def plan on going back in like 3-4 years so it's all new to us again. Don't think I could do Disney every year. Would wear me and my wallet out.

[Larry]

Planning is key but also sit back and enjoy it. I think the magic from disney comes in the smallest of details they have taken care of. I usually plan out the 2-4 main rides that are musts then go around the park and just enjoy and hope in a line or get a fast pass if it appeals to you. The ones i see running from ride to ride to get a fast pass like they are on some clock don't seem to be having that much fun.

Yeah, I see families who go to Disney, and it's like they're planning the assault on Normandy. "OK, Johny's gonna go to Space Mountain and get us all fast passes, while I go make reservations for lunch. mommy's gonna go get in line for splash mountain, and we'll all meet her there. Now, let's synchronize watches, and 'Hail' on three. Ready?"

OTOH, it can really help to at least know what the rules are. (You can send one person to get fast passes for everybody, but that one person has to have everybody's tickets. And once you get a fast pass at one ride, you can't get another fast pass until the first one has at least "come due".)

Getting descriptions of what a ride is like can sure help you decide if you want it or not.

Also, don't worry about shopping in every shop. Larry can probably correct, but they all seem to be almost the same with the exception of a few. If you see it in one store you will see it another and can pick it up at the end of the day or downtown disney.

Well, certain shops certainly do have more selection of some items.

You can get a mouse ear hat anywhere.

But there's a shop on Main Street that basically only has jewelry and Mickey Mouse watches. And at Downtown Disney, there's a shop where the watch department is the size of a small house. You can get anything from a $20 Chinese thing, to a $3000 Rolex.

There's a shop near the castle, and a much larger shop at Downtown Disney, that just sells Christmas decorations. Year round. (Oh, and BTW, I'd say that 2/3 of their Christmas decorations, change every year.)

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That said, though. Frankly, disneystore.com certainly has a bigger selection of Disney things than most people would want. Including a whole lot of the "Exclusive to the Parks" merchandise.

---------- Post added November-18th-2011 at 01:07 PM ----------

Another tip that might help the guy who's only staying Monday:

The calendar that I linked to, earlier tells you something interesting.

Disney has a thing called "Extra Magic Hours". It's only for people who are staying in a Disney hotel.

Every day, one of the parks will open early, or will stay open later, just for people who are staying in a Disney hotel. A lot of the park will close down. (Like the stores and the restaurants, although I think maybe some of the soda stands might stay open.) But they keep most of the rides open, especially the rides that are really popular, and that have really long lines during the day.

On Monday, the 28th, the Magic Kingdom has fireworks at 8:00, and the park "closes" at 10:00. But if you're staying in a Disney hotel (you'll have to show them your room key), then you can stay in the park till 1:00.

From 10:00 to 1:00 you can ride pretty much any ride you want to, with no waiting line.

(This might make the idea of "let's leave the park around 2:00, when it's the most crowded, go back to the room for a swim and a nap, and then stay in the park late, instead of standing in line" attractive.)